PRIMAKOV DENIES NATO-CIS LINK.

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov yesterday denied any linkage between NATO enlargement and CIS integration. "Integration between Russia and other CIS countries is not an answer to anything, but an objective process that will take place, whether others like it or not," he said. (Interfax, March 28) While Primakov’s remarks appeared to be directed at foreign leaders displeased by Moscow’s aggressive posture on reintegration, his words seemed also to contradict oft-repeated declarations by Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev that Moscow would form a CIS military bloc to counter an expanded NATO.

Moscow Reaches Defense Agreement with Cyprus.